Venezuela F-16 Sale to Iran Must Be Stopped

For more than a year I have been warning my colleagues and the American people that Hugo Chavez is an enemy of freedom, a menace to the United States and our allies, and a co-conspirator with those who support terrorism, socialism and all things contrary to liberty and democracy.

From his efforts to acquire nuclear technology from Iran, to his establishment of a formal broadcast alliance with the mouthpiece of terrorism — Al-Jazeera, and now his proposed sale of F-16 fighter jets to Iran, Hugo Chavez is turning Venezuela into the Western Hemisphere’s strongest ally of terror.

It’s bad enough that Iran is working to build nuclear weapons. Chavez’s proposed sale of F-16s to Iran compounds an already difficult diplomatic crisis and ought to further raise alarm bells with our allies in Europe and the Middle East. This proposed sale must be stopped.

The time has come for the United States to conduct a full investigation into the breadth and depth of Hugo Chavez’s relationship with Iran and other enemies of freedom.